Daily Kos

Today's Candidate Schedule

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:00:20 GMT

Where will the candidates be today?

Barack Obama

Presidential Debate
Nashville, Tennessee
Belmont University
8:00 pm (CDT)

Joe Biden

No public events scheduled

Michelle Obama

Jacksonville, North Carolina
Jacksonville Commons Recreation Center
1:30 pm (EDT)

[ Jill Biden has no public events]

John McCain

Presidential Debate
Nashville, Tennessee
Belmont University
8:00 pm (CDT)

Sarah Palin

Jacksonville, Florida
The Jacksonville Landing
Doors open: 7:00 am (EDT)

Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola Civic Center
2:30 pm (ED)

Greenville, North Carolina
Minges Coliseum
East Carolina University
Doors open: 5:00 pm (EDT)

10/7 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 41

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:12:34 GMT

Today's Daily Kos Research 2000 tracking poll has Obama up over McCain 52-41. All trackers are data from three days prior to posting, with the R2K numbers from today (yesterday's numbers in parentheses) and the other trackers from yesterday (previous day's data). LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV Today Research 2000: 52 (52) 41 (40) 3 LV Yesterday Rasmussen: 52 (51) 44 (44) 2 LV Battleground: 50 (49) 43 (46) 3.5 LV Diageo/Hotline: 47 (48) 41 (41) 3.2 LV Gallup: 50 (50) 42 (43) 2 RV

NBC/WSJ: 49 (48) 43 (46) 3.8 RV CNN: 53 (51) 45 (47) 3.5 LV D Corps (D): 48 (49) 45 (45) LV CBS: 48 (50) 45 (41) 3 LV

On successive days in the R2K poll, Obama was up +13 Sat, +11 Sun and +9 Mon (MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.)

Look at the range of Obama polls (47-53) and the McCain numbers (41-45) to get a feel for McCain hitting a ceiling. Gallup (referring to their own numbers):

Looked at broadly, Obama's percent of the vote has been within a very narrow range of 48% to 50% over the last ten days, and McCain's has been within an equally narrow range of 42% of 44% over the same time period. These results suggest that aside from normal sampling error, the underlying dynamics of the race have become quite stable, and underscore the degree to which there has been little meaningful change in the race in well over a week.

Both NBC/WSJ and CBS weighed in on the debates confirming, as we had pointed out, that Obama and Biden won. The polls also emphasize most people think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be President should something happen to McCain, the main role of the VP. That's important, because between that and her fav/unfav, Palin is a base favorite but not an effective attack dog for the rest of the population.

From CBS:

Palin's unfavorable rating of 32 percent is significantly higher, however, than Biden's 19 percent unfavorable rating. And on the key questions of whether each candidate is ready to be vice president, or, if necessary, president, majorities see only Biden as passing the test.

Seventy-five percent of registered voters say Biden is prepared to be vice president, and 65 percent say he could be an effective president; just 42 percent say Palin is prepared to be vice president and only 37 percent say she could be an effective president. Even Republicans are more likely than not to concede Biden could be an effective president.

As uncommitted voters did in a CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll conducted immediately after the debate, registered voters who watched the debate give the "win" to Biden, 50 percent to 31 percent.

From NBC/WSJ:

By a 21 point margin, 50%-29%, voters said the Democrats had the debate edge over rival Republican running mates John McCain and Sarah Palin, while 10% of respondents said the two tickets were equally as good and 4% said neither was good.

Do you feel that (READ ITEM) is qualified to be president if the need arises, or is (he/she) NOT qualified to
be president?

From Diageo/Hotline:

When asked who they thought won the debate, 47% of likely voters said they thought Joe Biden won, 28% said they thought Sarah Palin won, and 20% said the debate was, essentially, a tie.

As a result, among those voters who watched the debate, 40% say it made them more likely to vote for Obama-Biden, 39% said it made them more likely to vote for McCain-Palin, and 19% say they don't know.

The media overestimation of the dwindling GOP base is going to be one of the stories of this election. I know that spoils the media narrative, but the public has made up its mind about her. The size of the Republican base crowds she draws is irrelevant. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to say, "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts."

From a new ABC/WaPo Ohio poll:

Nearly four in 10 moderates in the poll said they were less apt to vote for McCain because of the Palin pick, double the proportion drawn to him as a result. By contrast, Biden attracts three times as many moderates to Obama as he pushes away.

Sarah Palin remains an unserious choice who is not, according to the voters, qualified to be a heartbeat away from a 72 year old cranky old man with uncertain health issues. She is one of the reasons McCain is losing this race, along with cranky and erratic "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" candidate at the top of the ticket (the one who "pals around" with Phil Gramm.)

Let's see if the pundits do any better interpreting tonight's debate, including recognition of the standing of the people pushing the attack.

Abbreviated Pundit Round-Up

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:56:08 GMT

Your one stop pundit shop.

Richard Cohen regains his journalistic mojo and kicks Sarah Palin and the traditional media's ass. And now, words I never thought I would type...Cohen's column is a must read.

Eugene Robinson asks the question that I'm afraid we already know the answer to:

But John McCain wants us to talk about Barack Obama's acquaintances. He and Sarah Palin are going to try their best to make us talk about anything but the big issues facing our country, because most Americans think Obama's solutions are better than McCain's.

Knowing that, are we in the media going to aid and abet the McCain campaign's obvious ploy?

Frank Gaffney reveals the real culprit behind the current, worldwide financial meltdown: a community organizer in Chicago that Barack Obama supported. And don't forget Obama's ties to domestic terrorists and radical Islam. In other words, Mr. Gaffney took the McCain campaign's latest talking points and ran...straight off the deep end.

Thomas Sowell explains how Democrats are to blame for the economic meltdown and how "the future of this country, as well as the fate of the Western world" is now in the hands of people being fooled into voting for Barack Obama because of smooth rhetoric and the liberal media.

Bruce Fein thinks that Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were both losers in their debate.

H.D.S. Greenway reminds us that George W. Bush is still the president. Bush probably wishes he hadn't:

The hubris and arrogance of Bush's first term still poisons the wells of good will this country once enjoyed. The undermining of the Constitution, the secret torture chambers have besmirched this administration more than any tawdry intern scandal ever could. Today we are bogged down in two wars and an unprecedented deficit, with a financial crisis of a magnitude not seen since the days of Herbert Hoover. The president has so little respect it's as if he has already left the stage.

Derrick Z. Jackson talks to some Bush voters. It's nice to see Americans waking up.

Erwin Chemerinsky wants Barack Obama and John McCain to talk about the Supreme Court:

Even with the economic crisis and the war in Iraq as dominant political issues, there is time to discuss the president's role in filling judicial vacancies. The stakes are no less than the content of constitutional rights for a generation to come.

Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:48:46 GMT

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

HELLO, FRIENDS!

Welcome to Amazing Discoveries, where we scour the country to find the best bargains for Republican automatons and their friends!

Let me ask you a question, Goopers: How many times have you said to yourself, "Gosh, I really want to drill here, drill now, and pay less...but it seems like such a headache!"

I know how ya feel! Between the endless paperwork of securing offshore leases, the expense of building your own platform, and the hassle of makin' sure your employees don’t walk off with stuff from your rig's office-supply closet, it's enough to make ya CRAAAAAZY!!!

Well, how would you like to get your hands on hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh, silky smooth crude RIGHT NOW for FREE...without all the muss, fuss and government red tape that drilling requires???

Now you can!

Just c'mon down to the Gulf of Mexico and start scoopin' up your share of over five hundred thousand gallons of oil just floatin' around waitin' to be claimed! That's right---over five hundred thousand gallons!!

I know what you're saying. "Hey, Bill, how can I trust you? Aren't you the guy who sold me the battery-powered abdominal exerciser that fried my pancreas? And the 'Set It And Go on Vacation' rotisserie that burned my house down?" Yes! And there's a perfectly logical explanation for those mishaps, but I'm afraid I can't comment during an ongoing investigation. But, trust me, friends!! This is an opportunity that's as good as black gold:

Hurricane Ike's winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data by The Associated Press. ... In the days before and after the deadly storm, companies and residents reported at least 448 releases of oil, gasoline and dozens of other substances into the air and water and onto the ground in Louisiana and Texas.

So if you're a Republican and it just dawned on ya that "Drill Here! Drill Now! Pay Less" really means "I Just Got Suckered Again By My Own Party Because We Won’t See A Drop Of That Oil For Eleven Years!", come on down to the Gulf Coast! Bring your buckets, your mops, your sponges, your rags, your Swiffers, your skimmers and lotsa barrels! Hell, bring the kids and make it family time! Before ya know it, you'll have your Hummer outta mothballs, filled to the brim with the precious juice, and---VROOM!---back on the road again!

Oh, and if you act now you'll get a special free gift: Rocket fuel---straight from your tap!

Join us for our next edition of Amazing Discoveries when you can buy a defeated maverick for the low, low price of only 19-95! (Eight houses, 13 cars, and beer heiress wife sold separately.)

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

Open Thread and Diary Rescue

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:15:17 GMT

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are Louisiana 1976, taylormattd, vcmvo2, Got a Grip, jlms qkw, YatPundit and grog.

Jeff Huber analyzes what Palin really meant when she talked about "victory in Iraq" in Mission Accomplished Forever. (vcmvo2)

First-time diarist consciousempress shares stories from inside a clinic in My Abortion Experience. (jlms qkw)

Cassiodorus searches through the scientific data and marshalls the facts to bring us a real abrupt climate change plan. (Got a Grip)

mdb tells the horrifying back story and identity of a well-respected, renowned woman he used to know in How I Entertained A Nazi In My Home. (Louisiana 1976)

iampunha thoughtfully remembers an act of random kindness in October 6: ::crickets::. (vcmvo2)

Morgan Sandlin reminds us that there are people outside the US that want to see Obama elected in My Time in the U.K., Their Hopes and Fears. (jlms qkw)

First time diarist Cyc4fave does some research and urges California voters to beware on election day when it comes to Prop 10 and T. Boone Pickens Raid on California Coffers. (Got a Grip)

bobswern reminds us that 50-100 million Americans cannot wait until Jan. 20th. They need help today! (vcmvo2)

dogemperor offers more background on Palin's religious beliefs in Thomas Muthee's "Seven Mountains" and coded messages. (YatPundit)

Liberal Youth discusses the interesting and controversial topic, Term Limits. (vcmvo2)

irish canadian tells the story of attacks north of the border in Political "vandals" strike again: attempt to murder more Liberals (edited x3). (jlms qkw)

Texas Cowboy goes on a well-reasoned rant and urges Common Sense - Stand Up America. (Got a Grip)

Dirk McQuigley reports on the wingnut anti-tax movement in Paying taxes IS patriotic. (jlms qkw)

jotter gives us the day's High Impact Diaries - October 5, 2008, while noweasels has Top Comments: John McCain & the USNA Honor Code.

Shamelessly self promote your diary or pimp for a friend in this Open Thread!

Election Race Diary Roundup (10/6 –29 Days to Change)

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:45:17 GMT

PLEASE NOTE - This is not an open thread and is intended for diaries and discussion of downticket races.

For all the introductory stuff and links to previous diaries in the series, please look below the fold...

This Rescue Diary covers the period from 12:00 Noon, Sunday, 10/5 to 12:00 Noon EDT, Monday, 10/6

Today's Menu Includes :
36 Diaries Overall

- 10 On House races

- With 9 covering individual Districts in 8 states

- 9 On Senate races

- Representing 4 different states

- 7 On Various election races and ballot issues

- Encompassing Governor, Secretary of State, Local, and more

- 10 General election-related diaries

McCain, Once Again, Is Afraid To Stand Up To Hate

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:50:17 GMT

We all remember when John McCain didn't have the guts or the honor to step up when one of his supporters called Hillary Clinton a "bitch."

And today McCain took it a step futher:

A supporter calls Obama a terrorist and McCain says nothing. Not that McCain should have been surprised, given that his campaign has been pushing the terrorist card in a last ditch effort to save his failing campaign. But it does say a lot about his lack of character that he doesn't have the guts to confront hate face-to-face.

House Race Roundup

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:30:17 GMT

FL-24: Abramoff-tainted Republican Tom Feeney went on the air a few weeks ago with an unintentionally hilarious ad where he gave a pseudo-mea-culpa for hanging with The Trenchcoat.

Florida bloggers have released this web video skewering Feeney (apologies for the mixup):

MN-03: Democrat Ashwin Madia leads Republican Erik Paulsen in this open-seat race, per a DCCC poll:

Bennett, Petts & Normington for the DCCC. 9/29-30. Likely voters. MoE 4%.

Madia (D) 44
Paulsen (R) 39
Dillon (IP) 9

The Minnesota GOP has taken a vaguely racist tack against Madia of late, referring to his opponent Paulsen as being "demographically" "one of them".

Good to see it isn't working.

FL-21, FL-25: This is not good for Fidel's nephews, the Diaz-Balart brothers in Florida:

Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart has procured millions in federal funding to benefit a small Miami-Dade defense-contracting group that has donated tens of thousands of dollars to his political campaign and that of his brother, fellow U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

Medley contractors Locust USA and Mark Two Engineering began contributing to the Diaz-Balarts' campaigns and political action committees in 2001, the year Locust secured its first small defense contract. Through this year, those contributions totaled more than $67,000.

Locust was awarded $20.8 million in Pentagon research and development contracts from 2001-2007, federal contracting records show.

At least 44 percent, $9.2 million, came through Congressional earmarks sponsored by Lincoln Diaz-Balart, The Miami Herald found. The largest -- $3.7 million -- came in 2006.

The brothers are locked in the races of their life - Lincoln against former Hialeah mayor Raul Martinez, and Mario against Orange to Blue Democrat Joe Garcia, the former chair of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party.

This is exceptionally bad timing for the Republican brothers, so close to the election.

LA-01, LA-02, LA-06: Dick Cheney is coming to Louisiana to fundraise for Sixth District aspirant Bill Cassidy, who is running against incumbent Democrat Don Cazayoux.

Daily Kingfish's Ryan has some fine background on the race at his site, and also notes this fascinating tidbit: Democrat Jim Harlan received more votes in Saturday's Louisiana primaries than Republican incumbent Steve Scalise received in the May special election, total.

The district is as close to unwinnable for a Democrat as you're likely to get, but Harlan seems likely to provide the strongest Democratic performance there in decades.

NY-26: Good news out of this district: apparently, Democrat Jon Powers, who lost in the primary to Alice Kryzan but maintained the nomination of the Working Families Party, has decided to move out of state, which would permit the WFP to give their nomination to Kryzan.

In other words, Powers will not be on the ballot as a Democratic spoiler.

From the Buffalo News via The Albany Project:

Efforts are under way to make Democrat Alice J. Kryzan the new candidate of the Working Families Party in the 26th Congressional District, giving her another line on the ballot in her campaign against Republican Christopher J. Lee.

James A. Duncan, chairman of the Erie County Working Families Party, said today he expects Kryzan to take over the line because previous candidate Jon Powers has moved out of state. While the State Board of Elections in Albany has not yet received notification from Powers, Duncan said he expects it to arrive soon.

"This certainly is an additional plus for Alice," he said. "We hope to have this wrapped up by the end of the day."

Kryzan is down in the polls, but not sharing the ballot with Powers ought to give her some kind of boost.

Fox News Source: "Exterminate Jew Power"

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:10:16 GMT

Yesterday Fox News, living up to their reputation as the media arm of the Republican Party, did their part to abet John McCain's new campaign strategy, airing a Sean Hannity-hosted hit job against Barack Obama that featured as its star witness, Andy Martin. And who is he? From TPM:

Martin previously crawled out from under a rock according to Matthew Mosk in the WP, to "take credit for posting the first article to assert that the Illinois senator was a Muslim." [...]

According to no less a source than the Unification Church's impeccably right-wing Washington Times of December 22, 1999:

In 1986, when Mr. Martin ran as a Democrat for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District seat under the name "Anthony R. Martin-Trigona," his campaign committee filed papers saying its purpose was to "exterminate Jew power in America and impeach U.S. District Court of Appeals judges in New York City."

The Washington Times' reporter, Ralph Z. Hallow, went on to say: "a Connecticut federal judge finally barred him from filing any more federal lawsuits without permission. The judge said Mr. Martin has pursued legal actions with 'persistence, viciousness, and general disregard for decency and logic.'"

In a New York bankruptcy case, he referred to a judge as a "crooked, slimy Jew." During the bankruptcy dispute, he filed a civil-rights lawsuit claiming Jewish bankruptcy judges and lawyers were conspiring to steal his property. He asked a court to bar "any Jew from having anything to do with plaintiff's property."

In another motion in the case, he wrote: "I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did, when Jew survivors are operating as a wolf pack to steal my property."

It seems that there is no depth to which Fox News won't sink to aid their Republican allies.

Between this and Sarah Palin's praise for a minister after she listened to him pray for Christian men and women to wrest control of business and banks from "the Israelites," it seems that McCain and Palin will have the anti-Semitic, hate-monger vote locked down.

Senate Race Roundup

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:45:17 GMT

AK-Sen: Well, well, well...seems even Ted Stevens himself is acknowledging the fact that he might have to go to jail.

There's audio and everything. From a tapped conversation between Stevens and Veco CEO Bill Allen, the man who hooked Stevens up with all the sexy additions to his apartment that got him investigated by the Feds:

Stevens: "If there's a violation of the elections law then that's a corporate violation."

Allen: "Yeah."

Stevens: "This thing shouldn't get your bind, little buddy."

Allen: "Well it has man, all day."

Stevens: "Well, well you gotta just stand back and say, what's gonna happen when it's all over, you gotta get a mental attitude that these guys can't really hurt us, you know, they're not gonna shoot us, its not Iraq, so what the hell. Worse that's gonna happen to us is we round up a bunch of legal fees and might lose and might have to pay a fine, might have to serve a little time in jail."

Got that? "The feds can't really hurt us, they're not gonna shoot us...it's not like we're in Iraq, after all".

In other words, don't worry a bit about breaking federal laws. What are they gonna do, throw us in jail?

Well, Sen. Stevens, be careful what you wish for.

ME-Sen: This race had been almost written off by most prognosticators, and while it still ranks at the back end of the 12 races generally perceived as most competitive, recent polling shows late movement towards Democratic candidate Tom Allen.

First, the DSCC's internal polling shows an eight-point lead, with incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins below 50%.

Benenson Strategy Group for the DSCC. 9/30-10/2. Likely voters. MoE 4%.

Collins (R) 49
Allen (D) 41

Allen had been making slow, but steady, progress in polling for several months, but seemed to have maxed out in the low 40s, while Collins settled in around 50%, and frequently well above. In fact, the recent movement had favored Collins; this is an indicator that perhaps the race is not completely lost yet.

Rasmussen has relatively similar numbers out, though theirs show Collins at 53%, obviously a significant difference.

Rasmussen. 10/2. Likely voters. MoE 4%. (9/17 numbers)

Collins (R) 53 (55)
Allen (D) 43 (42)

Some tightening, but possibly just statistical noise. Allen needs to get incredibly lucky over the last month to come close to winning, and he needs a major Obama landslide in the state. Out of the races currently gaining major national attention, this is easily the least likely to flip. to the Democrats. Still, at least it looks like an 8-10 point race, and not a 13-15 point race.

The DSCC has a new ad against Collins:

KY-Sen: Mitch McConnell's pollster is worried about losing.

Saturday's edition of The Washington Post had this little nugget about the economy in a story under the headline "GOP Strategists Whisper Fears of Greater Losses in November":

"The crisis has affected the entire ticket," said Jan van Lohuizen, a Republican consultant who handled polling for President Bush's re-election campaign. "The worse the state's economy, the greater the impact."

Why should you care?

The Post doesn't mention it, but van Lohuizen isn't just Bush's former pollster. He's also the longtime pollster for U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Yep, the GOP is nervous everywhere this year, from Alabama to Wyoming.

Democrat Bruce Lunsford's campaign has released an excellent new ad hitting McConnell for exploiting veterans in his own ads:

NH-Sen: Big lead posted for Jeanne Shaheen, from SUSA:

SurveyUSA. 10/4-5. Likely voters. MoE 3.9%. (October 2007 numbers)

Shaheen (D) 48 (53)
Sununu (R) 40 (42)

That's a bigger lead than most polling outfits show, but only by a couple points. Shaheen's average lead looks to be about five or six points at the moment.

It ain't over till it's over - especially in New Hampshire - but Shaheen has been winning this one since Day One, and she's still winning.

The campaign has released a very cool new web video as well:

"Washington is broken...and John Sununu broke it". Love that line.

NC-Sen: Democrat Kay Hagan continues to pick up steam:

Public Policy Polling. 10/4-5. Likely voters. MoE 2.8%. (9/27-28 numbers)

Hagan (D) 49 (46)
Dole (R) 40 (38)
Cole (R) 5 (6)

Too good to be true? Maybe. Obama leads McCain 50-44 in North Carolina in the same poll.

Nevertheless, Dole has been bleeding support, and Hagan climbing rapidly. Dole's average numbers are now below 40%...just abysmal numbers for an incumbent a month before the election. If anyone is favored here, it is Hagan.

OR-Sen: Shorter Gordon Smith: "OK, I may have lied a little. But only a little, not a whole lot!"

Sen. Gordon Smith’s (R-Ore.) campaign said Monday that he incorrectly claimed to have visited every county in the state once a year as a senator.

The Democratic Party of Oregon called Smith on the claim Monday, and Smith’s campaign admitted the senator’s mistake soon after. Smith is being challenged by state House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D) in one of the top races in the country.

Smith said at a press conference last week: "Mr. Merkley is challenging me to go to all of Oregon’s counties once a year. Well, I do that."

When the Democratic Party of Oregon asked to see Smith’s Senate schedules to verify the claim, Smith’s campaign admitted the senator was wrong.

Smith likes to boast that he visits every county every year, because Ron Wyden gets a lot of praise for doing just that.

Unfortunately, Smith has a bit of a truth issue.

Here's Democrat Jeff Merkley's newest ad:

Mocha

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:20:17 GMT

So people are buzzing about Palin's latest bluster:

At a rally on Saturday in California, Sarah Palin offered up a rather jarring argument for supporting the Republican ticket. "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women," the Alaska Governor said, claiming she was quoting former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The statement came after Palin had recounted a "providential" moment she experienced on Saturday: "I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day... It was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State [crowd boos] and UN ambassador. ... Now she said it, I didn't. She said, 'There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women.'"

For one it was a misquote. Albright actually said "women who don't help other women", and who could argue with that? Furthermore, this was the same Sarah Palin who once said:

Once onstage, together with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Palin talked about what women expect from women leaders; how she took charge in Alaska during a political scandal that threatened to unseat the state's entire Republican power structure, and her feelings about Sen. Hillary Clinton. (She said she felt kind of bad she couldn't support a woman, but she didn't like Clinton's whining.)

So apparently, in Palin's mind, you go to hell if you don't support other women, unless that other woman is a whiner. So many caveats it's hard to keep track of them sometimes!

But this is all pretty much an inconsequential blip in a week with far more interesting storylines. What really caught my eye about that story was this:

I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay?

A mocha? At Starbucks??? So Palin is a latte-sipping elitist? Does she sip mochas while chomping on those gosh darned mooseburgers?

A Café mocha is a variant of a cafe latte. Like a latte it is typically one third espresso and two thirds steamed milk, but a portion of chocolate is added, typically in the form of a chocolate syrup, although other vending systems use instant chocolate powder.

So does that dash of chocolate makes mochas a "Joe Sixpack" sort of drink? Will "normal" Americans, the types that live in small towns without Starbucks "relate" to this? Shouldn't she be getting her coffee and creme the old fashioned officially-approved American way -- at a Dunkin' D's?

Or wait ... maybe -- just maybe! -- trying to define and politically categorize people by their choice of food and beverage (like Obama's orange juice) might just be stupid and idiotic? You betcha, okay?

John McCain Lies About Keating Five

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:55:16 GMT

Earlier today the McCain campaign had the gall to hold a conference call and have McCain's lawyer from the Keating Five scandal, John Dowd, claim that:

...he vehemently disagreed with the judgment of the Senate Ethics Committee that McCain had made some serious mistakes. "That's not something that as his counsel I accepted," Dowd said.

Dowd singled out the late Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL), who vocally criticized McCain at the time, for particular scorn. "But you know, Sen. Mitchell was the majority leader, and Howell Heflin was his stooge," said Dowd. "And he was doing what he was told because the rest were Democrats in the hearing. So it's sort of a classic political smear-job on John."

And what did John McCain have to say about it...back in the day when he wasn't losing a presidential campaign, that is?

I created the appearance of impropriety so it was my -- I was guilty, and therefore did not represent the people of my state in the manner which they expected of me. [CNN, Larry King, 10/12/02]

The biggest mistake that I made in my life was attending a meeting with four other senators and four regulators because of the appearance of impropriety, and it is something that will always be a mark on my record, and something that people will judge me for the rest of my life. [GOP Presidential Primary Debate, 1/7/00]

Despite my recovery, the Keating Five experience was not one that I have walked away from as easily as I have other bad times. Twelve years after its conclusion, I still wince thinking about it and find that if I do not repress the memory, its recollection still provokes a vague but real feeling that I had lost something very important, something that was sacrificed in the pursuit of gratifying ambitions, my own and others', and that I might never possess again as assuredly as I once had. [McCain, Worth the Fighting For Page 204]

For nearly 20 years, John McCain has talked about his involvement in the Keating Five scandal as the biggest mistake of his political career, but now that it's become a part of the campaign conversation, McCain is too much of a coward to stand up and accept responsibility for his past words and actions.

WA-08: US Chamber Launches Pro-Reichert TV Ad Blitz

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:35:16 GMT

This, on top of their big radio buy:

The nation's biggest business lobbies are putting big bucks into a TV campaign to re-elect GOP Rep. Dave Reichert and fend off his formidable Democratic challenger, former Microsoft manager Darcy Burner.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce goes up Monday with a $156,000 TV buy -- anticipate ads that will smear Burner as a tax raiser -- on top of a previous $40,000 radio campaign against the Democratic challenger.

Next week, the National Federation of Independent Business begins a $219,000 television buy to boost Reichert....

The chamber's $40,000 radio buy was used to argue, falsely, that Burner would raise taxes on families with children.

A more basic question can be asked: After the Wall Street meltdown -- caused by deregulation measures that it supported -- what business does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have telling us how to vote?

The U.S. Chamber has been given millions to fight against transparency, accountability and oversight of America's largest financial firms according to a report yesterday by the American Association for Accountability, a trial lawyers group.

In its brief, the association reports that the insurance giant American International Group (AIG) paid $23 million to the U.S. Chamber between 2001 and 2005. As it was going under last month, AIG was balied out by the Treasury Department -- e.g. the country's taxpayers.

The report Connelly is referring to is here (pdf), and details how AIG funded the Chamber's anti-oversight, anti-regulation efforts, getting us into this mess. These are the same people who bear direct responsiblity for the current economic meltdown -- they took $23 million directly from AIG to lobby for deregulation and reduced oversight and then lobbied hard in favor of the $700 billion bailout.

And now they're trying to scare Washington voters, lying to them telling them that Darcy Burner is going to raise their taxes. I think that pretty much defines despicable, considering that the bailout they lobbied for will actually cost every taxpaying household in America $5,300, by Paulson's estimate (and that was before the Senate's "enhancements"). Hell, even Reichert (a man not known for his mental acuity) was smart enough to know this could look pretty bad, and voted against final passage. But he's not going to refuse their help.

It'll be hard for Darcy to respond against this kind of money. Now might be a good time for the DCCC to consider going into debt (and twisting some arms to get that $14 million in unpaid dues) to help Darcy out. Obviously, protecting Reichert is a a huge priority for the Republicans. The DCCC should put an exclamation point on what is shaping up to be a real rout by Democrats by ensuring that the Chamber, the NFIB, the NRCC, and their poster boy Reichert are crushed in November.

On the Web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
Orange to Blue list

Late Afternoon/Early Evening Open Thread

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:18:37 GMT

Thirty seconds of Sarah Palin:

NBC/WSJ Poll: Obama Widens Lead 49-43

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:53:11 GMT

Media polls influence narrative. We need to pay attention to the CNN poll (Obama 53-45), the trackers... all the polls. But this, along with ABC/WaPo, CBS/NY Times, Pew and Gallup, is one of the most influential of the national polls.

NBC/WSJ Poll

10/3-5 (9/19-22) MoE +/- 3.8

Obama 49 (48) McCain 43 (46)

Other points of interest... remember we told you that the polls said Obama and Biden won their respective debates? The NBC/WSJ poll agrees.

By a 21 point margin, 50%-29%, voters said the Democrats had the debate edge over rival Republican running mates John McCain and Sarah Palin, while 10% of respondents said the two tickets were equally as good and 4% said neither was good.

OTOH, racism is alive and well:

And cautionary notes remain for Sen. Obama. The poll suggests that the first African-American to win a major party nomination could be vulnerable to race-based attacks tying him to unpopular black figures such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor and Al Sharpton, an outspoken and controversial figure.

Thirty-five percent of all voters -- and 40% of white voters -- said those connections bother them. This is absent any candidate or party pressing hard on those themes, something Republicans have hinted they may start to raise more aggressively in the campaign's closing days.

Also of note:

Independent voters are among the most important voting blocks because many of them would consider voting for either candidate. In the last WSJ/NBC poll two weeks ago, independents favored Sen. McCain by 13 points. The new survey finds Sen. Obama leading by four points.

And Sen. McCain's support in rural areas and small towns, where he led by 21 points after his convention, has steadily dropped and he now has just a three-point edge.

Remember to factor in your standing... it's not easy for Sarah Palin to attack when you are 41-50 not qualified to serve. Biden's "qualified" is 74-18, including 62% of McCain voters. That's what the debates taught the American voters.

More to come when the full poll is published.